Chapter 4: The story of the burned book

Despite Ren’s sudden return home, Mireille prepared lunch with skill.

Unlike before, the food served at the mansion used a variety of ingredients other than little boars that could be hunted in the forest.

Ren was pleased to see this.

He had left his village and worked hard in Clausel, and it could be said that he had achieved his true desire. He was as happy as he had ever been for having made his poor village rich.

After lunch, when the three of them were enjoying a pleasant chat.

“This place is beautiful now.”

Ren looked around the new dining room of the new mansion.

The dining room, with its white walls, dark brown flooring, and a brand-new cooking area made of hewn stone, had no earthen floor leading outside, as in the past.

“But isn’t the furnishing a little similar to before?”

“Yes, it is. but didn’t the furniture burn  down?”

“It burned down completely. I guess I just had to rebuild it to make up for what burned down.”

“Ren, your father had been building the furniture in the house for a long time.”

Ren was surprised to hear about his father’s dexterity, which he didn’t know.

He has bought some furniture for the guest room that was made by a craftsman.

“I’m planning to order furniture for your room, too. But I know you have your preferences, so I was going to wait until you got back.”

“So, have you ordered some for you and mom’s room?”

“No. The furniture in our room was made by me, just like before.”

He had written in a previous letter to his parents that they could use the magical tools and funds he had sent them as they wished.

His parents had long refrained from doing so, saying that it was Ren’s money. But he still wanted them to use it.

“I told you not to hesitate to use what I sent you.”

“… No, I’m grateful that Ren said that. However, there is a feeling that we shouldn’t give priority to the village, and I have one more thing on my mind.”

“What’s on your mind?”

When he was asked this, Roy scratched his cheek in a bit of embarrassment.

“Is it frugality”

“I’ll feel more at home with the furniture that my father built for me.”

Perhaps the words in which the two spoke came from the heart.

Ren who understood his feelings, said nothing more.

Starting with the kitchen, he has already confirmed that there are useful magic tools, place everywhere in the mansion. So he wanted to leave the rest to the two of them.

It’s a house where they spend all their days, so it’s better if they feel at home.

It sounded good to say that they value frugality.

“—-Please do the same with the furniture you’ll put in my room.”

And Ren’s words were also based on his true intentions.

Ren finished his after-dinner tea, stood up, and spoke.

“I’m going to go put my luggage in my room.”

Roy said he would go with him when he said that.

Mireille said she would put away the dishes, and when Ren and Roy offered to help, she laughed and said, “Don’t worry about it.”

After leaving the dining room, Ren walked down the hallway and didn’t hear any creaking noises like before.

“It really is new, isn’t it?”

“Yes, thanks to you and the Baron. The only thing we haven’t been able to rebuild is the stacks, since all the books have burned down.”

“It can’t be helped. The fire was so intense.”

The new house was similar to the old one. The corridor that used to lead to the storeroom has been cut off, and the windows have been widened.

Ren felt a little sad that the place of his memories was gone.

“Speaking of books, The books in my room also got burnt.”

Roy said with a sigh in the middle of the stairs leading to Ren’s room on the second floor.

“Oh, were there any books in your room?”

“I could count a few number of books, but they were in the shelves. My father’s diary and the books our ancestors left behind were kept in my room.”

“Is that so. By the way, what kind of books did our ancestors leave behind?”

“Well….. I don’t know if it’s true or false, but it’s a book about our ancestors’ adventures.”

“…… Adventures?”

“If you believe the book, the Ashtons’ ancestors were adventurers. They left the Elfen continent and traveled all over the world.”

Ren was thrilled to hear the story.

He also wished he could have read such a book if it existed.

“What kind of adventures did our ancestors have?”

“All kinds of adventures. They went to the sky continent to search for the gods, and they searched for an ancient city that’s said to lie at the bottom of the sea.”

(A map that was rumored to appear in Legend of the Seven Heroes III)

In the former, the Sky Continent, there were actually people living there. Therefore, there are also exchanges through magic ships. As for the latter, the ancient city lying at the bottom of the sea, it was only rumored to have appeared.

Eventually, the two of them arrived at Ren’s new room, opened the door and entered.

The brand new room is slightly larger than the previous one.

The room is lined with furniture that Roy had prepared that he thought was necessary before ordering Ren’s furniture.

The furniture were all arranged and looked the same as it did before the mansion burned down, which calmed Ren down. The only difference was the bed, which was larger to accommodate Ren’s growing needs.

“Dad, tell me what they did next.”

Ren opened the window of his new room.

The excitement he felt in his new room was still there, but Ren decided to enjoy the conversation with his father.

“After that—- there was also the story of the Dragon Lord…”

Ren’s chest pulsed loudly for a moment.

Roy’s words were all too timely for Ren, who had somehow found Asval’s horns in the waterfall basin.

“Could it literally mean an old dragon?”

“Perhaps. He was old and belligerent, always looking for a strong man or something.”

“…………”

“Ren? What’s with your sudden silence?”

Roy twisted his head when he saw Ren, who suddenly opened his mouth and looked stunned.

“If you’re not feeling well or tired, I’ll see you later —-.”

“No! I’m totally fine, let me hear it!”

I said hurriedly, and Roy continued, “If that’s okay with you.”

“I heard that our ancestors fought with the dragon master. He wanted the dragon’s horn so badly that he begged for just a small piece of it.”

“Heh, heh….. the horn,…… so what happened to it?”

“The Dragon King refused, and our ancestors gave up, thinking it was only natural. But the Master of Dragons told them to try and take it by force.”

Ren continued to listen with a dry smile.

“So the ancestor cut off a whole horn.”

“—- Yeah?”

“So he cut off one of the horns whole. He took the dragon master’s word that he should try and do it by force.”

Listening to the story, Ren responded with a dumbfounded “Haha”

“Our ancestor won the battle and became friends with the Dragon King.”

“So …… that’s the end of the story?”

“Oh, yes. The adventure book left in my house contains only that much information, as I recall. It was written like a diary, so I don’t know much more than that.”

“You say that’s all there is to it, but he did have some pretty spectacular battles, didn’t he?”

“Right. I don’t know if it’s true or not. I don’t know what kind of dragon he fought, but if he was that strong, he should have made his mark on Leomel’s history. It’s a wonder we aren’t a famous family too.”

Roy’s words were convincing.

But Ren couldn’t dismiss the story as a joke.

“Dear! The knight wants to see you!』

Suddenly, Mireille’s voice came from outside the room.

Hearing her voice, Roy left the room, leaving Ren alone to lean his body against the window frame.

Feeling the spring breeze on his back, he crossed his arms. Then he thought back to winter and the words he had exchanged with Asval.

『—- Ashton? For some reason, it sounds strangely familiar. 』

“…… Eh? You know my family name……?”

“Nothing comes to mind….. but I don’t like it when a weakling like you speaks his name!』

The fact that only one of Asval’s horns was broken can be explained if it was our ancestor who broke the horn.

Chronologically, this must have happened before the heroes defeated Asval. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for the ancestors of the Ashton family to fight Asval.

“How?”

Asval would be weakened if his horn was broken, and Ren, who had spotted this, remembered that he had desperately broken the remaining horn.

Even that time, it was barely possible because Asval had made an incomplete revival.

Moreover, it was after one of the horns had been broken and weakened.

On the other hand, the ancestors of the Ashton family are beyond the scope of what Ren can understand, having triumphed over Asval in his prime.

“Well….. It’s only natural for him to say I’m weak.”

I can’t help being compared to my ancestor who won against the monster Asval and was recognized as a friend by the monster himself.

Ren was curious about such an ancestor, but his ancestor’s adventure book had already been burned.

He was seething that he couldn’t look it up even if he was curious about it.

“—- but why wasn’t it recorded in history?”

That fact also bothered me.

I couldn’t find any information about my ancestors when I thought back to my knowledge from my gaming days, let alone in history books.

Normally, this would be impossible. The more I ask about my ancestors, the more I find it strange that their names never appear in history, even though they were incredibly powerful people.

“It’s like he was intentionally left off the record.”

I considered the possibility that for some reason he had been erased from Leomel’s history.

But if that were the case, the fact that the Ashton family has continued to the present day would be a problem. If the ancestors were erased from history, it was for some reason.

And those circumstances must surely have been inconvenient for Leomel.

But the fact that the Ashton family has been able to continue to exist seems somewhat disconnected.

“…… No. I don’t understand.”

Ren is by no means a man of intrigue or politics. There’s no way to know for sure because there’s no information left.

In other words, he could think, but he couldn’t get answers.

In the end, Ren only reconfirmed that the Ashtons’ ancestors were ridiculously powerful —-.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

The next morning, Ren woke up in his brand new bed in his room.

It was a great feeling to wake up from sleep. The new house wasn’t quite the home he remembered, but it was still nice to be back where he was born.

When he opened the window, the wind that caressed the fields brought the scent of earth and grass.

“Good.”

Ren muttered and changed his clothes.

He left his room, thinking back to his daily routine a little over a year ago.

“Oh my, Ren. Your usual walk?”

Mireille, who had passed him in the hallway, knew what Ren was thinking.

“Yes. I thought I’d go for a walk in the village for the first time in a while.”

“I understand. “

Ren was escorted out of the house by Mireille.

(…… oh, oh)

Io was there, lying down in the stables and sleeping with her legs stretched out.

She didn’t appear to be perplexed by the change of environment.

After passing through the gate, Ren went outside and began to walk along a different cobblestone path than before.

The path, which used to be a field path, has been transformed to make it easier to walk, but the distance from the fields is as close as before.

The villagers soon saw Ren walking alongside the fields and called out to him happily.

While Ren was on his walk, exchanging pleasantries with the villagers, he noticed an old woman walking in front of him.

She was the only mid-wife in the village.

“Aunt Rigg!”

It was Grandma Rigg, the village’s only maternity nurse and a skilled pharmacist.

As soon as she saw Ren, her wrinkled eyes were slightly wet with tears.

“Bo-chan! You’re all grown up.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

After being praised, Ren scratched his cheeks in embarrassment and said, “Thank you,” and began to walk alongside Grandma Rigg.

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